Lesson 1: What are Student Learning Outcomes?

Student Learning Outcomes Drive the Assessment Plan

Imagine you were going on a trip but didn't know the final destination. I would be impossible to effectively plan the path your journey should take because you didn't have a clearly defined idea of where you were supposed to end up. Once you know your destination though, it becomes much easier to create a plan to get there. That is what student learning outcomes (SLOs) do for your assessment. SLOs tell you the final destination you want students to get to after completing the program. Once you know the SLOs you can then build curriculum focused on getting students to that destination. You can also develop an assessment plan that evaluates whether or not students arrived at the destination and identifies problems students encountered along the way. When you know the problems students encountered, you can make adjustments to the curriculum to improve learning.

File:Student Learning Outcomes.pdf